Obama renews call for ending oil subsidies
US President Barack Obama on Saturday said Congress should halt subsidizing oil companies to invest in the energy of the future.
"When oil companies are making huge profits and you?re struggling at the pump, and we?re scouring the federal budget for spending we can afford to do without, these tax giveaways aren?t right," Obama said in his weekly radio address.
"They aren?t smart. And we need to end them," he added.
The appeal came as US consumers chafed under gasoline prices that have climbed a dollar from a year ago to about an average $4 a gallon (3.8 liters) at the pump.
Obama and potential opponents in next year's presidential election have pushed the issue onto the front burner.
On Tuesday, the president called on Congress to cut $4 billion in subsidies to profit-churning oil firms and he repeated his appeal on Saturday.
Obama noted that this past week, the largest US oil companies announced that they had made more than $25 billion in profits in the first few months of 2011, up about 30 percent from last year's figures.
The president said he was not opposed to increasing US oil production.
"But I also believe," he went on to say, "that instead of subsidizing yesterday?s energy, we should invest in tomorrow?s -- and that?s what we?ve been doing."
Obama said his administration was already making investments in solar and wind power as well as other energy-efficient technologies.
"And I think that?s an investment worth making," he added.
